Welcome to Project: Gorgon!

Project: Gorgon is a 3D fantasy MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) that features an immersive experience that allows the player to forge their own path through exploration and discovery. We won't be guiding you through a world on rails, and as a result there are many hidden secrets awaiting discovery. Project: Gorgon also features an ambitious skill based leveling system that bucks the current trend of pre-determined classes, thus allowing the player to combine skills in order to create a truly unique playing experience.

The Project: Gorgon development team is led by industry veteran Eric Heimburg. Eric has over a decade of experience working as a Senior and Lead Engineer, Developer, Designer and Producer on successful games such as Asheron’s Call 1 and 2, Star Trek Online and other successful Massively Multiplayer Online Games.

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Necormancer class feedback.

Hi! I've been testing the Necromancer class recently and I've come up with a number of support ideas for the class based on the skills/mechanics you've already implemented. I would also like to address a problem I've encountered and recommend a pet that's party friendly.

I think pets are a large part of necromancy. I'll now detail the problems I've found using necromancer pets and my suggestions to fix them.

My first suggestion would be to add an 'attack' command for pets.

Create Shambling corpse rework:

I was really stoked when I got shambling corpse. It seemed to fill the role of a panic button "my pet's dead and I really need to save my bacon." So when I went to use it I immediately found it was rather clunky.

My suggestion for reworking it: Keep target -> cast spell -> If corpse is in range then summon zombie immediately. Zombie taunts target.
I like this idea since I can keep the target and the summoned creature knows immediately what I want it to do. In the context of a party I like the idea of having something that can potentially save a party member in a pinch.

Shambling corpse ability rework: Is it me or is this thing screaming to go boom?
When I use this ability I often find myself wishing I could make it explode. I mean c'mon, overloading a minion with necromantic energy as a final hat trick is thematically bad ass.

Clinging Miasma: Shambling corpse explosion snares the targets and leaves them vulnerable to damage for a time.

Caustic Spray: Shambling corpse explosion does damage over time and makes targets take more armor damage.

Party friendly pet suggestion:

The skeletons are nice when I'm soloing but I have a problem in groups keeping my pets from behaving like brainless automatons, which is a problem because they are brainless automatons.
problems I've encountered:

-Pathing during combat. I've had problems with skeletons, particularly archers/mages running down hallways/into rooms and aggroing additional opponents. I can't give them a command to hold their ground.

-Random agro. The risk of an extra monster add is not worth the damage a pet brings. they generally die in a few hits and leave me holding the bag.

My suggestion for a party friendly pet would be to have a ghost pet that could passively haunt targets. A ghost would be nice because
-No pathing mechanics necessary. Also if it floats through walls; it's not a bug, its a ghost!
-It makes thematic sense that ghost abilities don't cause targets to agro or call for help. They just have a vague sense of unease and impending doom.
-When a target gets haunted they could be distracted and attack slower, take more damage from elemental attacks, or have increased vulnerability to lifedrain. Ghosts could also reduce healing enemies receive or steal it and give it to the group. Throw pots and pans around to stun enemies for 1 sec. I think there are a lot of possibilities.

Skill changes: These are suggestions to make some skills more party-orientated.

Death's Hold: Change "Death's Hold causes target to take +28% damage from Slashing for 15 seconds" to "Death's Hold causes target to take +10% damage from physical for 15 seconds".

Deathgaze: Remove fear component, increase range, Make the target cower (attack slower? do less damage? can't evade?) make the target vulnerable to damage. (I don't want it to run or get close but I like the idea of it debuffed and scared)

Life steal: Debuffs the target so a % physical attacks leech health. (player hits target 50dmg, player +5 hp, monster -5hp). (I'd like to provide a healing mechanic that synergizes with my vulnerability debuffs. You don't have to make this a % it could also be a flat rate leech that does a flat bonus for each "debuff on target)

Spark of death: When target dies there's a chance to have it's remains summoned as a skeleton pet. (I'd like to replace pets that I've lost when I'm far away from a graveyard/out of femurs)

Change "Spark of Death makes the target 10% more vulnerable to Electricity damage" to "Spark of Death makes the target 10% more vulnerable to Elemental damage" Electric is way too specific.

Closing thoughts:

I really like the necromancer thus far. I think there's a lot of utility the class can provide without falling into the "pump it's damage" pit fall. Instead I focused on making mobs attacks slower, making mobs vulnerable to other attacks and distracting mobs at key moments.

I know I mention "vulnerable to damage" a lot. I don't mean to imply a blanket damage buff (I think that would be boring). I would like to see certain skills give vulnerabilities to "physical" or "spell" or "elemental". That way I can come up with interesting combinations based on group make up.

I've only played a little of necro but my biggest complaint is somewhat GUI related, my minions just die and I don't even realise it. Besides that, the AI is pretty weak and you can't give any complicated commands... or any commands for that matter.

I agree that the graveyard component should be scrapped, I know there's a later skill that lets you use a skull to summon a skeleton but I would just prefer something like using a corpse to summon a minion. It would be cool if the skeleton/zombie/etc.'s strength was determined by the strength of the corpse used to summon it. It would be awesome to start of as a weak necromancer, only being able to kill a rat, turn it into an undead rat and slowly work your way up, killing stronger and stronger monsters and raising stronger and stronger undead. If you summon something stronger than yourself, you would lose control and it would attack you! I've read several necromancer books, sorry, that might be too much :P

I think it would be a nice touch if you removed the limit to summons (bear with me), instead you would have a control value, for example lets set it to 2. If you try summoning a third minion you wont be able to control it and it will turn on you. Imagine, in the heat of battle you panic and summon an extra skeleton and bam, its starts attacking you!

I am on this long break mainly due to frustration with Necro. Since I am a 99.9% solo player getting deep into a zone or dungeon and having my skellies die then having to basically start the whole zone over to resummon them just became too much of a PITA and definitely was NOT FUN. I am all for scraping the graveyard mechanic. I understand wanting to make the game challenging but this is making the class unplayable for me.

Before the revamp several months ago when pets were made even more central I could manage by swapping out pet abilities for just the necro nukes and dots and actually be mostly OK. I get it, necro is a pet class and we are supposed to use pets, well that's fine if we can resummon when we need them. I don't know maybe have a buff that has two ticks available, but has a long cool down, that allows one to summon not in a GY. That way you can't just chain summon when over your head.

I never use shambling corpse. If both my skellies die I am basically like f' it I might as well die too and resummon. (see above) Having a command to explode would absolutely make it better.

I am on this long break mainly due to frustration with Necro. Since I am a 99.9% solo player getting deep into a zone or dungeon and having my skellies die then having to basically start the whole zone over to resummon them just became too much of a PITA and definitely was NOT FUN. I am all for scraping the graveyard mechanic. I understand wanting to make the game challenging but this is making the class unplayable for me.

Before the revamp several months ago when pets were made even more central I could manage by swapping out pet abilities for just the necro nukes and dots and actually be mostly OK. I get it, necro is a pet class and we are supposed to use pets, well that's fine if we can resummon when we need them. I don't know maybe have a buff that has two ticks available, but has a long cool down, that allows one to summon not in a GY. That way you can't just chain summon when over your head.

I never use shambling corpse. If both my skellies die I am basically like f' it I might as well die too and resummon. (see above) Having a command to explode would absolutely make it better.

While I don't share the same experience in terms of using Necromancy. I can definitely say that those of us who play solo should be able to over come obstacles through sheer skill and experience, obviously in accordance with our gear as well.

To a certain degree how ever. When I did obtain Necromancy, and was asking around for opinions - It didn't sound all that interesting. Hopefully a median is met for all you necromancers.

I'm a pet class player. Been a tamer for over ten years in UO, had a bunch of pet classes in DAoC and played a hunter and lock in wow, etc, and never have I encountered pet classes that were this weak and clunky.
Pets can't even tank a normal trash mob, heals have cooldowns, pet buffs are needed and there has to be a way to easily resummon your pet when it's dead.

Yeah, the graveyard requirement is rough. Admittedly my necromancer experience is very limited. Would a good compromise be that you can only choose the type of skeleton pet you want in the graveyard, but as you play you can revive them without needing to be in a graveyard? Maybe skeleton pets could drop a corpse that can be reanimated by rebuild undead ability?

I might try using the skill again later. But, it just felt like constant babysitting of the pets.

I know its bad manners to Nerco a dead thread, but it would be an interesting Idea to be able to summon your undead pet using a dead players tombstone. I keep seeing them all over the place and it would just be kind of funny.